Too posh to push? Iran seeks to curb C-sections

Shirin does not consider herself too posh to push, but she is against natural childbirth. Like many other women in Iran, the 32-year-old has opted to have her baby by Caesarian section.

Medical officials say 40 percent of children in Iran are born by C-section on average, but the percentage in Tehran is as high as one in every two deliveries -- and it is greater than 60 percent in Isfahan and Gilan provinces.

"The World Health Organisation recommends a Caesarean section rate of 10 to 15 percent," said gynaecologist Nasrin Changizi, who heads the mothers' health bureau in the Iranian health ministry.

Shirin, a secretary in a construction company, said it was the thought of the pain during labour and the damage she feared could be inflicted on her body that encouraged her to choose a "planned" delivery.

"Why shouldn't I enjoy the benefits of science when it is available?" she asked in a Tehran clinic, as she waited along with a dozen other women to have a colour 3-D ultrasound of her baby.

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